On the final weekend of April, San Diego Opera (SDO) concluded its 2024–2025 season with three performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata.” It’s quite appropriate that the company ended its triumphant 60th season with a production of the most-performed opera in the world. Having performed in this opera myself last year, but never seen it live, I was excited to see this production.
A Grand Opera
The word “opera” often has the adjective “grand” attached to it. Those not well-versed in the art form might automatically picture huge theaters, massive orchestras, lavish sets, opulent costumes, and large voices to match the large figures on the stage. People who are more familiar with opera’s nuances will recognize that this description is just one facet of this multi-dimensional art form. Nevertheless, the grand opera is a very important part of the classical singing tradition, yet one which is becoming increasingly rare. The grand Italian opera is well-represented by the dramatic masterpieces of Giuseppe Verdi, such as “La Traviata.”“La Traviata” means “The Fallen Woman” in Italian, and it was inspired by the 1852 French play “La dame aux camélias” (“The Lady of the Camellias”) by Alexandre Dumas fils, which in turn was based on his own 1848 novel. If you’re familiar with the 1936 Greta Garbo film “Camille,” the play of the same name, or the ballet “Marguerite and Armand,” you’ll recognize this as the same story.
Choreographing a Tragedy
Few regional American opera companies can afford to produce grand operas in the extravagant manner that tradition suggests. This privilege is reserved for the bigger opera houses, which means Los Angeles Opera and San Diego Opera here in Southern California. SDO’s production was spearheaded by director/choreographer Kyle Lang, whose personal performing experience was as a featured dancer in operas rather than a singer. This background was evident from the overture, when the solemn procession of the heroine’s coffin was followed by an interpretive dance performed by six dancers. Traditionally, there is no action onstage during the overture, but Lang (who stated that he usually likes an overture to be just music) visualized this scene as a terpsichorean prologue representing the status of the titular “fallen woman.” These six dancers (one woman and five men) would pop up two more times.
At an artist panel after the show, general director David Bennett described SDO’s ongoing goal to have less “stuff” onstage. Kyle Lang elaborated that he wants performers to have freedom to move onstage without the hindrance of clutter, which makes sense considering his dance background. Speaking of dance, it’s standard for the second party scene to feature dancing during two chorus numbers, which describe Gypsy fortune tellers and Spanish matadors. During the female chorus song, the chorus ladies and female dancer did some simple dance moves. The big dance number was the male chorus, which is usually led vocally by supporting tenor Gastone. In this version, Gastone was the soloist in the dance with the female dancer, playing the matador while the male dancers played the five bulls in the text. Felipe Prado, the tenor playing Gastone, showed an impressive amount of flair and coordination, especially because his only dance experience is a little operatic waltzing. In fact, he did so well that it seemed like a waste of talent to have five highly trained professional dancers, who are in demand and expensive when hired as freelancers like this, to do basic stage movements that five chorus singers could easily have handled. It wasn’t until their final appearance as ghostly Carnival revelers dancing through Violetta’s chambers that their dance ability could be seen, although the inclusion of this gothic dance moment was confusing.
Beautiful Singing
It’s easy to focus on a production’s negatives, but there was a lot to love about SDO’s “La Traviata.” More than sets, staging, costumes, or choreography, the most important thing in an opera is the collaborative effort of making music. In this regard, this production excelled. The orchestra, the San Diego Symphony under the baton of SDO principal conductor Yves Abel, sounded superb from start to finish. The chorus was impressively strong, accurate, and unified.The three leads were very professional and pleasing to the eyes as well as the ears, since they are all more youthful and fit-looking than many opera singers. It was especially refreshing to see a slender, beautiful Violetta, whose lithe arms and fair complexion made her convincing as the frail, consumptive heroine. I especially enjoyed the performance of Hunter Enoch, the bass-baritone who played Germont. His resonant voice and commanding stage presence were powerful in this complex role.
Overall, this was an excellent production from a wonderful opera company. They have announced that their productions next season will be three of the most classic operas, “Pagliacci,” “The Barber of Seville,” and “Carmen.” I applaud them for keeping old masterpieces like this trio and “La Traviata” alive and on stage. I hope that the company will continue creating traditional stagings for these beautiful works and make the most of all their resources (including specialty dancers).
